Agenda and minutes

Discussion:

Councillor Buckwell, supported by Councillor Kemp, proposed the nomination of Councillor Tejan to the Office of Mayor of Medway for the forthcoming municipal year.

Councillor Maple, supported by Councillor Murray, proposed the following amendment:

“Add the following to the proposal to elect Councillor Tejan as Mayor for 2019/2020:

and agrees to delete sections 20.1 and 20.2 of Rule 20 (Nomination of Mayor and Deputy Mayor), as set out in Part 1 (Council Rules) of Chapter 4 (Rules) of the Council’s Constitution:

20.1    The Mayor shall be elected by the Council from among the Councillors at the annual meeting and, unless a casual vacancy occurs, the Mayor shall continue in office until a successor is elected.

20.2    The Deputy Mayor shall also be elected by the Council from among the Councillors at the annual meeting.

and replace with the following to take effect from 1 January 2020:

20.1      Each political group as constituted in accordance with Regulation 8 of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 shall be credited on the 1 January every year with a number of points equivalent to the number of members of the Council within that group.  The term "political group" shall include an individual independent member of any group of independent members agreeing to be grouped for this purpose.

20.2      A report setting out the outcome of the calculations in accordance with the scheme shall be submitted to the first meeting of the Council after 1 January each year.

20.3      The political group with the highest number of points after the process described in paragraph 20.1 shall be invited to nominate a candidate for the Mayoralty in the ensuing year and shall, at the first ordinary Council meeting following such qualification, accept or decline the nomination.

20.4      In the event that two or more political groups have the same number of points and no agreement is reached between them as to which group shall have the right to nominate a candidate for the Mayoralty, the matter will be referred to Council for decision.

20.5      The formal procedure of election of that candidate as Mayor will take place at the annual meeting.

20.6      The political group nominating a candidate for the Mayor shall also have the right to nominate a candidate for Deputy Mayor.

20.7      In the event of any political group having the right to nominate the Mayor for the ensuing year declining to do so, that political group shall nevertheless be deemed to have exercised its right and its points shall be adjusted accordingly.

20.8      Any political group not having been represented on the Council for a continuous period of 15 months or more shall be eliminated from the points system.

20.9       The political group entitled to the Mayoralty shall be debited on 1 January with a number of points equivalent to the whole number of members of the Council.”

In accordance with Council Rule 16.2, this proposal was taken forward without discussion to the next ordinary meeting of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

The Mayor announced that Reverend Pamela Alexander had accepted an invitation to act as his Chaplain for the forthcoming year.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs Diane Chambers, Rodney Chambers OBE, Stamp and Tranter. An apology was also received from Alderman Harriott.

Apologies for absence were received from Fay Cordingley and Clive Mailing (voting coopted Members of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee) for the Joint Meeting of Committees, which followed this meeting.

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct.  Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 5.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

There were none.

This report requests the Council to elect a Leader of the Council for a four-year period in accordance with Article 7 of the Council’s Constitution.

The Council is also asked to agree the Council side delegations to officers.

Discussion:

Councillor Brake, supported by Councillor Doe, proposed the election of Councillor Jarrett as Leader of the Council for a four year term until the day of the next Annual Meeting of the Full Council following the ordinary election of all Councillors. Councillor Jarrett was duly elected.

The report stated that the Leader, once elected, was required to present to the Council a written record of delegations made by him for inclusion in the Council's scheme of delegation as Chapter 3 to the constitution, as set out in Appendix B to the report.

Appendix A to the report was tabled at the meeting in Supplementary Agenda No.2. Appendix A included details of the Cabinet portfolios for the new municipal year, including the appointment of Councillor Doe as Deputy Leader.

Decision:

a)           The Council elected Councillor Jarrett as Leader of the Council for a four year term until the day of the next Annual Meeting of the Full Council following the ordinary election of all Councillors.

b)           The Council noted the details of those appointed by the Leader to serve as Deputy Leader and Members of the Cabinet and the extent of their individual portfolios, as set out in Appendix A to the report.

c)            The Council noted the appointments and nominations to executive bodies as set out in section F of Appendix C to agenda item 8 (Establishment of Committees, Appointments and Schedule of Meetings 2019/20).

d)           The Council agreed to the delegation of non-executive functions to officers as set out in Appendix B to the report.

The Council is asked to determine the committees and other bodies to be appointed for 2019/2020, to agree the appointment of Members to serve on committees and other bodies and a programme of meetings.

The Council is also asked to make recommendations to the Joint Meeting of Committees on 22 May 2019, immediately following the Annual Meeting of the Council, in respect of the appointment of Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of committees and the establishment and membership of sub-committees groups.

Discussion:

This report provided details of the establishment of Committees and the appointment of Members to serve on Committees and other bodies and the programme of meetings.

Updated versions of Appendices B and C to the report which included details of the recommended appointments to committees, sub-committees and other bodies were tabled at the meeting in Supplementary Agenda No.1.

Decision:

a)        The Council agreed the establishment of committees, their size and the allocation of these seats to political groups as set out in Appendix A to the report together with terms of reference as set out in the Council’s Constitution as referenced in paragraph 3.10 of the report.

b)        The Council agreed to appoint the membership of each committee as set out in Appendix B to the report, as set out in Supplementary Agenda No.1, including the appointment of voting and non-voting co-optees on committees as listed.

c)         The Council agreed appointments to joint committees and other bodies as set out in paragraph 3.9 of the report and Appendix C to the report, as set out in Supplementary Agenda No.1.

d)        The Council agreed the timetable of meetings for the 2019/2020 municipal year as set out in Appendix D to the report, including the correct start time for the Councillor Conduct Committee on 19 June 2019 (7pm).

e)        The Council recommended to the Joint Meeting of Committees the appointment of Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of committees (excluding the Health and Wellbeing Board) as set out in Appendix B to the report, as set out in Supplementary Agenda No.1.

f)          The Council recommended to the Joint Meeting of Committees the establishment of sub committees (with terms of reference as set out in the Council’s Constitution), their size, the allocation of seats to political groups and memberships as set out in paragraph 3.9 of the report and Appendix B to the report, as set out in Supplementary Agenda No.1.

g)        The Council recommended to the Joint Meeting of Committees that the requirement for political balance should be waived in respect of Licensing Hearing Panels and Licensing 1982 Act Hearing Panels and that the process for selection of the Chairman, Vice Chairman and Panel Members for these Panels should be as set out in Appendix B to the report, as set out in Supplementary Agenda No.1.

This report asks the Council to make a decision in respect of the allocation of Political Assistant posts to each of the qualifying political groups represented on the Council.

Discussion:

This report provided details of the allocation of Political Assistant posts to each of the qualifying political groups represented on the Council, as set out under section 9 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Jarrett, supported by the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Services, Councillor Doe, proposed the recommendation set out in the report.

Decision:

The Council agreed to allocate Political Assistant posts to the Conservative and Labour Groups.

At the conclusion of the Annual Meeting there will be a brief Joint Meeting of Committees.

Joint Meeting of Committees (except Health and Wellbeing Board):

Agenda

(1)  Election of Chairman

(2)  Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and other significant interests

(3)  To appoint Committee Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen as set out in Appendix B to agenda item 8 on the Annual Meeting of Medway Council agenda

(4)  To agree the establishment, allocation of seats to political groups and membership of Sub-Committees, as set out in Appendix B to agenda item 8 on the Annual Meeting of Medway Council agenda.

Discussion:

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Jarrett, supported by the Leader of the Labour Group, Councillor Maple proposed a vote of thanks to staff.

Councillor Jarrett stated that Medway, as a unitary authority, had responsibility for the delivery of all local government services from street cleaning through to challenging areas such as social care (children and adults). Councillor Jarrett stated that he could highlight many examples of work and referred to the following:

Education Service – staff working with academies and higher and further education had enabled education results to be the best they had ever been under Medway as a unitary authority.

Children and Adults Services – these staff had significant responsibilities including taking care of the vulnerable working with other parts of the public sector, in particular health, and he praised the work of staff in producing some of the best detox figures in the country. There were also a number of examples of ground-breaking work being undertaken by Public Health.

Planning Service – planning staff were widely recognised as being amongst the best around and had been described by Countryside Properties as lightning fast, with particular reference to the development at Rochester Riverside.

Front Line Services – these were universal services which were often taken for granted but had a positive impact on residents’ quality of life and wellbeing and on the public realm.

Regeneration Team – this was a fairly small team doing amazing things to take Medway forward.

Councillor Maple, Leader of the Labour Group, supported the vote of thanks. In particular, he praised the resilience of staff, for example, by running an election which had not been expected to take place and dealing with everything from floods to heatwaves. Staff also dealt with sad occasions such as the registration of a death as well as positive occasions such as the registration of a birth. He also praised the professional advice that Members received from officers on issues and he cited the example of the cross-party work that had been undertaken on the review of stroke services with excellent officer support. He also reflected on the reduced resources that staff faced in carrying out their work.

The Chief Executive responded on behalf of staff and thanked Councillors Jarrett and Maple for their kind words. He stated that staff, who were committed to Medway, provided excellent services which were much valued by the community and whilst they should be thanked on any occasion, it was fitting that they be thanked at the Annual Council meeting.

Decision:

The Council agreed that a vote of thanks be given to staff.